Mexico plus robots plus stop-motion mastery equals a piece of work that we are really proud of. By Stefano Dembro (a fake name of a fake designer, or something). Gorgeous stop motion work, check out the stills and video from Papalote here FormFiftyFive

What is a Thingamagoo? It is a little metal creature that’s more than just a toy, it is a beeping, zapping, bixxerfouping, anthropomorphic synthesizer monster. Turn the knobs and push the buttons to make crazy nonsense sounds. It has an audio out and a mini built-in-speaker to robot out. Plus you can customize it, and how fun is that? This is exactly what we all need on a Friday afternoon. Beep Labs will be at the Austin Maker Faire this weekend and is part of a group show at Gallery Lambardi taking place now. If anyone is in Austin and gets to play with one, let us know what you thought.

If being woken up in the morning by a dutiful robot buddy is a trait of the future, then Tokyobay has assured that the future is now. Tokibot clocks take three classic robot styles and equip them with chest-inlaid timepieces that would make Flava Flav pout with jealousy. Check out the various styles and colors these helper-bots come in at Tokyobay. If you love the traditional robot dance box-head style like I do, Rivet is a clear choice.

UNIQLO has never been afraid to inovate the shopping experience (think: UT Loop, grid playground and the concept t-shirt store) but this time they are adding a robot to their stores. Yep, you read right a robot named Wakamaru. Designed by Toshiyuki Kita and engineered by Mitsubishi, the robot can make eye contact with you, have simple conversations and help you shop for some Japanese animation t-shirts. But there is a catch, the robot is being described as neither human nor machine. The only thing we can think of that fits that catagory is robocop, which could end up to be a huge PR problem for UNIQLO if anyone saw Robocop 3. Look for Wakamaru to make his/her first appearnce at the Soho store in NYC sometime in the second week of September.

Mike Heisler introduces three of the friendliest Slobots to date, expanding his world of functional machines turned personable friends of man. Two of the new additions, Slo-Damen and Slo-Herren, are boxier with an old school look. Their orangey-red color is well-suited for their occupations as operators of the Martian Space Port and Lunch Counter, the quaint, imaginary Red Planet establishment created for them by Heisler’s imagination. It reminds me of Rosie from The Jetsons.

The other new bot on the block is Slo-Dunny SERV02, a mechanical spy turned Venus ice cream franchisee. More like the previous Slobots, Slo-Dunny’s head totally looks like an orange with a peering eye in front and sweet looking canisters of essential gases wired to his back. The posable “ears” totally make this one.

More bots after the jump.

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Natalie Jeremijenko, a loved and non-traditional professor at UCSD (and previously, Yale), has brought her amazing Feral Robotic Dog project to the West coast. This awesomely creative and interesting experiment has students transform old toy robotic dogs into toxin-sniffing, pollution hunting puppies that are released in packs on community areas. The re-engineered robots, previously only capable of barking songs and cruising carpet, sniff out the area for ozone and harmful VOCs, among other nasty pollutants. The media spectacle this creates has helped Jeremijenko and her students raise community awareness on the issue of contaminants in our everyday environments, a topic that is often overlooked due to the misconception that toxins are uncommon in common areas. While this project has been going on for over three years, the popularity of the Feral Dogs has continued to grow, as has their fun and non-stuffy contributions to the fields of science and technology. What a cool and approachable way to incorporate art and humor with science- I’m normally too right brained to get turned on by research, especially when it has to do with engineering, but I’m having so much fun saying the words “feral robotic dogs” that I might even tell my friends about this one.

Via Inhabitat

When I was a wee lad, I played with Legos. To me, Legos were those little plastic blocks that came in different colors and sizes; the sky (or dinner bell in my case) was the limit on what you could build. Well, it appears as though Lego’s have become a little more advanced in the past 15 years. Case and point: the new Mindstorms NXT Robot Kit ($350). The kit allows you to build fully-functional robots– the heart of the concept is the USB friendly computer-controlled ‘brick,’ ‘featuring a 32-bit microprocessor, LCD display, sensor ports, motor ports, a loudspeaker and control panel, this ultra-sophisticated motion/light-sensitive block brings your creations to life and offers countless design/functionality permutations.’ Reportedly, it can even ‘go back in time and destroy the mums of people you don’t like very much.’ Warning to parents out there: be careful– if you buy this ‘toy’ for your kids, they may surpass your intelligence level in less than a week.

Anyone reading this blog for a while knows we have a special appreciation for robots– Especially breakdancing robots. We also have a special place in our hearts for robots made from found objects like the ones above designed by artist Mike Heisler– he prefers to call them his Slobots. There are about a dozen Slobots to check out on his site, many for sale at fairly affordable (remember this is original art!) prices. We’re going to go back to reading How to Survive a Robot Uprising now, gasp!

The JDF (Japan Design Foundation) will be hosting the 2006 International Design Competition in Osaka, Japan later this year, but with the technical details that being a competitor involves we thought we'd give you the heads up. This year's emphasis will be on “conveying visions and messages concerning the future of humankind,” with the main theme being ROBOTS. The sub-themes include communication, transport, and support and with prize money of up to $10,000 for the gold prize plan to see hoards of mechanical men in November when screening begins. (Hope they caught our post on “How to Survive a Robot Uprising”) The JDF hopes to “provide more positive opportunities for business talks between design proposers and companies from the manufacturing and distribution industries, as well as facilitate the establishment of a system to commercialize the proposed design ideas.” We can't wait to see what they come up with!

The essential guide to defending yourself against the coming rebellion, Daniel H. Wilson's first book, How to Survive a Robot Uprising, is “an uncomfortably humorous survival guide” for the war of the future. Wilson, who received his Ph.D. from the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, highlights the future attackers from toasters to would be “terminators” and gives insight into robot weaknesses and guides on weapons to defeat them. It was also announced recently that Mike Myers will star in a movie by the same name that is based on the book. It may be a small possibility, but “take no chances. Arm yourself with expert knowledge. For the sake of humanity, listen to serious advice from real robotics experts. How else will you survive the future in which robots rebel against their human masters?” Get this book for any robot-fanatic, seriously.

The guys over at Kid Robot are giving away 5, one of a kind Siemens CF110 cell phones and 8” chrome plated Dunnys. Dunny, the action figure originally made of soft, smooth vinyl was created to be customized in a broad variety of styles by diverse artists working in different mediums and now, has been transformed into a pattern. The Dunny pattern appears to be lasered on to the back of the cell phone, but could be just a print. Either way, it's definitely worth signing up for a chance to win!

Beck’s new video features the only four working Sony QRIOs in the world. If you’ve been reading my site for a while you know I’m in love with the Sony QRIO, and I’ll be first in line to get one when they’re officially available. Check out the music video in Real Player, for the song “Hell Yes”– produced by creative group Hammer & Tongs.

Via WMMNA

I’ve always lusted after the Sony QRIO, so any videos I see just make me love the little robotic ‘fella that much more. This made the circuits a while ago, but if you haven’t seen it before– worth watching now! The video shows the QRIO and his pals doing some ancient Japanese fan rituals, and dance.

Via Tranism

What could be more fun than transformers break-dancing? This spot is from the Salone del Mobile in Milan–directed and produced by Charlie Bayliss. It has really impressive 3D modeling and animation throughout– and these little transformers pulls some extremely cool dance moves–my favorite being a windmill where the legs just keep on spinning around 2:55. Music is funky Retro Techno, by Lazer Music. I’m telling you, watch this, they are pulling off some very sophisticated dance moves–and you can’t help but laugh.

Via WMMNA